Vader ROTJ stunt (MoM) build

[cdyoung]

I’d like to hear anyone’s past build experiences with the Vader ROTJ stunt saber from MoM.

Did you use a template, such as provided by obi1kenny, for drilling the upper?

DV ROTJ Graflex Conversion

Converting a Graflex to a Darth Vader ROTJ style saber

www.elvistrooper.com

Any sage advice for this build is most welcome. Please show off your finished Vader ROTJ sabers!

 

[Sym-Cha]

Just make certain you don't drill the holes to big ... perhaps even slightly smaller then the screws otherwise you'll expose the brass underneath and the holes appear oval not round ... which happened with the purchased vintage DV ROTJ that I received :

I never finished mine with this top, I purchased another 2 Cell to upgrade the top part ... also you can always file the holes a bit larger if need be!

Chaïm

P.S. If you need more reference pictures of the original DV ROTJ stunt lightsaber ... just ask

 

[cdyoung]

Thanks, Sym-Cha. I gathered some reference photos of Vader’s ROTJ stunt saber from various forum threads. If anyone requests credit for a photo, please let me know, and I’ll make the update. If I’m missing any key photos, please send me a PM or add them to the discussion here. Hopefully, others will find these visual references helpful for their builds, as well.

 

[LOM]

RotJ Vader Stunt - Google Drive

drive.google.com

That's what I've got on this hilt. It's more or less the same as what you've got but there are a few other ones in there + larger resolution ones. These mostly came from threads here, Facebook, and Flickr.. Unfortunately I don't have proper credits either for most.

Though I do recall:
-The Original Prop Blog
-Rogue Designer
-Smithsonian
-Various Visual Dictionaries

Hope this helps!

I really got to build one of these sometime...

Should be some good info on it here, despite the broken pics and formatting:

More details on the Vader ROTJ saber - Please archive

Edit: At this point, I believe we're past the original question I asked. ==================== Hi all, I'm wondering what the majority of you feel is the "correct" way to have the finish on this prop look... It has been popularly speculated that Vader's ROTJ saber was a replated...

www.therpf.com

 

[thd9791]

So, I have some insight on this saber.. based on some experiments I did.

It's been reported that this saber is HEAVY and that (for me) confirmed my suspicions. Someone here showed me the emitter has metal in it. Basically this means there is a metal 'puck' replacing the upper 1/3 of the socket. Then there is the middle 2/3 of the socket. 3/3 is gone and replaced by a solid metal lug that stretches along the upper half.

a few of those bolts used to go through the clamp (now on the V3) and that means this has a LONG core. Longer than the pipe stunt or the ESB Era Barbican.

So if you can sand down a piece of aluminum round, and stuff it in the upper half, and get a piece cut for the socket, you're golden for accuracy. I THINK there is a larger grub screw embedded in the core to hold the tang. Or it's threaded into the core, but I don't see why they couldn't just unscrew the blade tang if that were the case.

The black oxide countersunk bolts are M5 based on the head size.

Edit: M6!

 

[cdyoung]

Well, this wouldn't be a stunt saber thread without some excellent input from LOM and thd9791! Thanks guys.

Internal construction is one aspect of this hilt I hadn't even begun to consider yet, since I was more focused on getting the main parts together and forming a plan for the overall assembly. Thanks for addressing that aspect of the build, thd9791!

 

[thd9791]

Absolutely! You get stuck trying to add the black bolts without having anything to screw them into. I guess you could use PVC or just nuts but that's less fun lol

Also, the collar, switch box, D ring cap, bottom cap, are all still mysteries. We don't even know how the top and bottom are held together! The collar LOOKS metal, but I can't figure out if its a found part or scratch built.

 

[LOM]

Always happy to help!

Regarding the weight that thd mentioned - I believe the story is that Bob Anderson specifically requested a heavier counterweight modification to this hilt for the scene where Luke 'chops wood' in RotJ (I think it was first mentioned in the OT Blade thread or Halliwax Weird V3 Theory thread?). So a lot of the weight is going to be on the bottom half - that bit of brass we see peeking through the endcap is probably a big chunk of brass.** ((Probably the same stuff crammed in the emitter of the Barbican now - but that's just a guess))

If I recall there are some close matches for the supposed tire valve, but not an exact match?

edit: spelling
**edit 2: That doesn't make sense, we'd see the brass in the grip holes if that was the case.

 

[thd9791]

As for this WHOLE issue about the activation box having screws in it, I totally disagree. Besides blaming the lighting again, I know of a person who has spoken with someone that knows exactly what the original box was made from - a British momentary contact switch. The part that looks like threads are actually coils.

Maybe he'll chime in. I'll give him a PM.

(Hey, KL...would you consider asking the Admins to merge this thread with your archived one?)

Momentary switch, that's right! I had an un-named older prop guy tell me what this original part was and I just kept forgetting what the heck the name was.

This. I lose sleep wondering what came of this.

 

[Benjo]

I totally agree with thd9791 statement about the core. There's an inner core held by allen screws, and another metal part above the lower half of the bulb holder.
I'm currently building that prop and because I don't have any aluminium core on hand I choosed to use a 10mm diam threaded rod through the entire hilt, form to bulb holder to the cap. I use a sleeve for the middle part, and I plan to use the two screws from the activation box to hold the two halves together. I use tiny washers to hold the allen screws in place.

I want my replica to be as craptastic as the original prop, so I've distressed the hilt by shaking it inside a gravels bag to have scratches. You might consider sanding gently the lower graflex half if you're looking for the same yellowish tint as the original. That prop is a piece of junk, nothing on it seems right however this is a really cool lightsaber hilt.

 

[Drew Baker]

The black oxide countersunk bolts are M5 based on the head size.

I just double checked head size based on photos from LOM's folder. Rescaling for a Graflex barrel diameter of 1.5 inches I'm seeing screw heads at 0.48 inches -- just like the heads on my 1/4-20 .5 screws. Were/are M5 screws available with 12mm heads?

My own build has stalled out after trying to 3D print my own wonky shroud, but I've since picked up a real ball catch and keep meaning to get going on it again.

 

[thd9791]

I just double checked head size based on photos from LOM's folder. Rescaling for a Graflex barrel diameter of 1.5 inches I'm seeing screw heads at 0.48 inches -- just like the heads on my 1/4-20 .5 screws. Were/are M5 screws available with 12mm heads?

My own build has stalled out after trying to 3D print my own wonky shroud, but I've since picked up a real ball catch and keep meaning to get going on it again.

I had a lot of difficulty with this. I've made 5 sabers with 1/4 20 bolts and none of them really looked like they were supposed to. They would seat too high and then too low, with the curvature of the tube. Also, they looked a little too big and I couldn't figure out why. (especially on the pipe stunt, but this MoM one too) I went back and analyzed some of these photos and realized the heads might be a hair smaller - around 1/5 less, 10 mm head size instead of 12 - and the closest size I can find are M5 bolts. Older bolts are usually a bit larger than they are today I'm finding.

Tom’s ROTJ Vader MOM saber!

and a really simplistic comparison for us

 

[cdyoung]

thd9791, thanks for cross-referencing your thread. There’s a wealth of information there.

 

[Sym-Cha]

So I just took measurement of the rectangular hole in my G R A F L E X as 3 mm ... then I uploaded a picture of the real MoM lightsaber in Photoshop and with the picture at the correct angle = layer 1, with help-lines and 3 x the rectangular hole being copied + original hole ... you can conclude that the black screw is at least 4 x 3 mm = 12 mm.

Chaïm

 

[eethan]

I agree with your 12mm, I also put a photo in photoshop and based the scaling on the tube itself as it's a larger size reference, the screw heads are coming to exactly 12mm:

 

[thd9791]

holy crap, thanks guys! I wonder what was going wrong with mine

 

[Sym-Cha]

Now for those of you living in Singapore ... you can see the real DV ROTJ prop hanging on Vader's belt ... currently at the exhibition STAR WARS Identities :

Chaïm

 

[thd9791]

Oh crap, M6 bolts are the right size and may have a larger socket, making them look smaller

 

[thd9791]

Im doubling down on this - M6 head size matches what I see much better. AND i found a handful of ones with the larger socket I was talking about


The others have such faint markings I thought the whole lot had blank heads. They show up in sunlit pictures though. Smaller socket.


They are just a bit smaller than a graflex plug socket, I think this is it.

 

[thd9791]

Is there any chance the mystery part on the front is not a tire valve? Like are there any better shots that show the center hole?